The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, last year, announced a new initiative aimed at fostering students and professionals from underrepresented communities after a much-publicized effort to invite more international artists and artists of colour into the organization.

The diversity statistics remain dire in the entertainment business job market for anyone who isn’t a white, straight, able-bodied male. A survey from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film found that of the top 100 grossing films of 2017, 2 percent had female cinematographers and 14 percent had female editors. And according to the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, across 1,100 of the top grossing films over the past decade, 64, or 5.2 percent, had black directors and 38, or 3.1 percent, had an Asian or Asian-American director, reported VOA News.

The Academy program, according to Oscars.org, is multi-tiered educational and experiential initiative designed to enhance and extend an industry-wide diversity internship enhancement program under the Academy brand. The initiative affords top film entertainment, technology, production services and digital media companies an all-inclusive pass to recruit and educate a nationwide pool of diverse talent. The program offers interns exclusive access to Academy members, industry professionals, screenings and educational workshops offering an inclusive industry networking experience.

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The Academy offers unprecedented and exclusive access to industry professionals through its more than 8,000 members. Known for its “best in class” industry screenings, tours, educational workshops, roundtables and events, the Academy affords aspiring film and entertainment students the ability to interact and learn from the best.

This initiative will ultimately cement, strengthen and clarify long-standing, but independent efforts to address concerns of accessibility and opportunity for underrepresented communities throughout the country.

This summer, for seven weeks, 108 college students from across the nation convened in Los Angeles for internships at places like HBO, Warner Bros., Dolby Laboratories, Universal Pictures, IMAX and AMC Networks, in addition to film screenings and weekly panels on various aspects of the film industry from people at the top of their fields.

Notable speakers this summer included cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (Schindler’s List), production designer K.K. Barrett (Her), Sorry to Bother You director Boots Riley and actress Lily Collins, who dished on the casting process. Cinematography and production design students even got to work with Daryn Okada, an academy governor, to recreate a scene from Mean Girls, which Okada shot.

The program, now in its second year, continues to evolve.

“Building on the success of our inaugural year, this summer’s Academy Gold internship enhancement program has doubled in size and scope and will provide additional areas of training and study for interns interested more specifically in cinematography, production design and editing,” said Randy Haberkamp, Managing Director, Preservation and Foundation Programs.  “The goal of our new Production Track workshops is to provide opportunities for our interns to choose professional goals that reflect the same variety of collaborative crew positions as our Academy members.”